On Foreign Soil
by FusionPanda
Summary: This is set after the events of Mass Effect 3, and is in mostly non-citadel space. New races threaten the crew on the ISS Oregon. Will the crew survive? Will their friendship stay through thick and thin? Rated M for language.


From where I stood, I saw three of my team mates; Nyla, an Asari, twiddling a small combat knife with her biotics. Corim; a Turian, examining his gun with both his hand and eye; and Kate, a human with a passion for both killing and guns. She was leaning against the cover guarding the galaxy map, having an argument with a crew member over who know what.

'Mam.' The voice from beside me interrupted my thoughts, and I looked to the side and saw my Yeoman Sadie. 'Ah, Sadie. It's you' I replied, startled. I eyed something Sadie was holding. Before I got a chance to ask what it was, she told me. 'There was a report' she began, handing me the tablet in her palm, 'of a group of four Asari named Hunter Squad which disappeared near Scacia on the edge of the Hurylian cluster. They were sent to investigate some suspicious activity, and they haven't returned.' Quickly skimming over the report, I looked back at Sadie. 'Thanks Sadie. I'll have a look at this.' I handed her back the tablet and traipsed over to the bridge. 'And where would you like to go today?' asked Andrew the pilot, spinning around his chair to face me. 'Scacia, Andrew. Step on it.' Leaving the bridge, I sauntered across the span of the hall and walked up to the microphone beside the galaxy map. 'All right crew, get your gear and meet me in the cargo hold. I'll pick who to bring when I get there.' I took my mouth away from the microphone and stepped through the elevator and up to my cabin.

Once the elevator had gotten to the top floor, I walked across the small room connecting the cabin to the elevator and entered my room. Stumbling over to my changing station, I stripped down to just my underwear and got into my armour. Afterwards, I came down to the cargo bay. All of my crew was there, that was good. All of them were suited up apart from one or two who were just finishing preparing their guns. 'OK team,' I began as I paced back and forwards; 'a disturbance caused Hunter Squad to go M.I.A. I want to find them, I've planned this mission out as I was preparing. Nyla, you'll come with me and be my biotic, and Han'Bekk; you'll be my tech man on this mission' I instructed, stopping the pacing and staying in one place. 'Aye aye, Mam' replied the Quarian and the Asari. 'The rest of you will be lead my Kate, she'll tell you what to do. My group and I will get a headstart. Let's go!' I exclaimed, taking Nyla and Han with me.

All three of us flew in with chutes, landing on the roof of a large ruined structure. 'Shit' whispered Nyla, taking her sub-machine gun from her belt and loading it, 'they must have seen us come in. Damnit!' she exclaimed, attempting not to scream. I peaked over cover and saw several robotic figures going behind an object through which I could not see. Standing out of cover, I turned to Han as he spoke. 'We should follow them.' At first, I found his comment pointless, but then I added on to it. 'We can, just don't engage. Follow me.' Han and Nyla walked behind me as I hopped down and landed on the ground with a soft thump on the soil. Walking over to where the robots were, I sat behind cover. Instructing my squad mates to do so as well, I poked my head out of cover and saw the synthetics. 'Myrians!' I proclaimed, going back behind cover. 'I thought they may have been Geth.'

'It's only a … dozen, or so. We can take them.'

'Fuck it' I replied, 'Han, sabotage the one closest to us.' The Quarian quickly leant out of cover and attempted to control the systems of the synthetic; it failed. 'Shit! They're immune' exclaimed Han.

'OK then' I began, fiddling with my belt, 'let's go military style!' I unhooked an incendiary grenade, threw it into the group of Myrians and ran out of cover. Nyla quickly followed, launching a warp orb. It hit one and killed him, and Han came behind her. Firing several shots from my assault rifle, the synthetics began to fight back. Two turned around, the first equipped warp ammo and the second fired randomly at us. Han fought back, piercing ones mask with a sniper rifle bullet. Nyla and I stayed behind cover as Han continued to shoot with his sniper, killing just over half of them. I shot the few remaining, leaving one, and Nyla lifted it and shot it in the chest. Stepping out of cover, I spoke into my communicator. 'The enemies are Myrians. I repeat, the enemies are Myrians. Stay careful. Anna out.' I turned it off and carried on. Nyla came up to the bodies first, examining the closest one to us. Han and I searched through the rest, finding nothing. 'Anna, Han. Look!' Nyla called; I came to her first. 'What is it?'

'It's something that leads to where the squadron went.' The Asari held it up to us. 'It's just a piece of clothing' spoke the Quarian. Nyla lowered her arm slightly and looked at Han. 'No, idiot. Look! It's an Asari material.'

'That means that these Myrians had something to do with the disappearance of Hunter Squad!'

'Yes!' shouted the Asari. Suddenly, a metallic sounding groan interrupted us. 'What the—?' I began, noticing it was Myrian. Before I could get there, Nyla angrily strolled over to it. She placed her foot on his throat. 'Where the fuck are the Asari?'

'They … they …'

'Speak you robot shit stain!'

'Get off my throat!' Instead of fully taking her boot off of his throat, she loosened her grip on it. 'All except one were killed.'

'Where's the last one?'

'If we knew that, then she would have a bullet through her head!' the dying Myrian exclaimed, laughing in a monotone style. 'Any hints?'

'We believe she is wounded and is staying by the ruined temple. Up there.' He pointed to a large pyramid shaped structure with at least a dozen holes in it. 'Thanks, dickhole.' Nyla crushed the Myrian's throat. 'Motherfucker. Right! You heard him, come on!'

'Oh. Are you commanding the mission now, Nyla?' I said, cheekily smiling at her. The Asari quickly looked down nervously. 'No, mam.'

'Don't worry. I was joking. Come on' I said, instructing Han and Nyla to follow me.

After fighting through several waves of enemies, we finally reached the pyramid. 'Into the elevator we go!' I bellowed, stepping into the elevator and waiting to reach my destination. When it did, it opened; I saw a large open space with just a lone Myrian looking at some cover. Before I could do anything, Han took his pistol from his belt and shot a bullet into the synthetics head. After a long moment of silence, the last surviving Asari popped her head out of cover, and then eventually her entire body. 'Irri?!' exclaimed Nyla, frantically running over to the last of Hunter Squadron and embracing her. 'You know her?' asked Han as he followed me. 'She was … she was my best friend a few dozen years ago. When she joined the military, we lost contact.' Irri left Nyla's embrace. 'I thought I'd never see you again, Ny!'

'Look' I began, 'this is very touching, but the Council over in Citadel space.'

'Ah. I expected they would.'

'I've just found you again, and I'll loose you again?'

'No. You won't! I was planning on leaving the military and just getting a job on the Citadel.'

'Oh' began Nyla, stepping away.

'Well then,' I uttered, 'come on then. We've already cleared the way for you.'

'What happened over there?' enquired the Asari councillor over in Citadel space. Irri stepped forward, readying herself to answer. 'We went there to investigate some suspicious noise, and the Myrians ambushed us. They took out everyone except me. These guys saved me.' She faced us and smiled towards us, and then looked back. 'And you're OK?' asked the councillor. 'Yes Mam, only a few scratches.'

'Good. The loss of Hunter squad is disappointing, though. They were good.'

'The best.' Irri turned to Han, Nyla and I again. 'You can go now.'

'Are you sure you'll be fine?' asked Nyla.

'Yeah, of course. You'll be able to visit any time, anyway.' Nyla nodded and followed me away.

Back on the ship, I stepped through the door of Nyla's office. 'Oh. Hi, Anna' she began, turning her attention to me. Stepping further into the office, the Asari spoke again. She stood up, walked over to the leather seats overlooking the vast reaches of space and sat down. I came and sat down on the seat next to her. 'Is there something you wanted?' asked Nyla. She turned her head to look at me and waited for my response. 'I just came here to see how you were doing.'

'I'm fine' she said. 'That's the unfortunate side-effect of war. You loose people.'

'The good thing is, though, you get to see space.'

'Yeah. I suppose.'

'And anyway' I began, leaning backwards in the seat, 'like Irri said, you can visit her any time.'

'Mhm. I know that. Thanks for coming by, Anna. You really helped me out.'

'No problem,' I stated, standing up from the seat. As I walked out, I stopped at the doorway. 'Oh, and Nyla?'

'Yes?'

'Things get better.' The office door closed behind me. I walked into the elevator and eventually found Kate. 'Anna.' She nodded. 'So, Kate. What was it like on your side?' I asked.

'A bit boring, really' started Kate. 'I didn't really shoot many things.'

'Damnit, Kate' I said smiling, 'is killing all you care about?'

'Fuck yes' she said, smiling vigorously.

**The night after...**

'Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty! Twenty push-ups! Ow …' Kate fell from exhaustion, collapsing on the floor, chest heaving. 'A bit too much for you, Miller?' I questioned from the table, sitting down, relaxing and drinking some alcohol. 'No … maybe' Kate replied, still laying still on the floor. 'Aw, that's a shame' stated Nyla, 'come on. I'll show you!' She began to get down, but I stopped her. 'No, no. _I _will show you. I'll do it on the bars.' Nyla and Kate twisted around to look at me, I prepared myself; grabbing the bar and pulling my body up. I did the same again and again. At twelve, my arms started to tingle, but I persisted through to the end. 'Twenty!' I yelled, getting down from the bar, 'see. It's easy, you, Katie, are just a giant puss!' I smiled.

'Hey Anna, fuck you! I was tired!' she replied, struggling to hold her laughing in. 'Yeah right, ya' weed!' yelled Corim. 'You're full of shit!'

'Shut the fuck up, skinny bitch! I will staple your testicles to your god damn forehead if you're not careful!' Kate yelled, pointing at Corim in a condescending way.

'Whoa! Calm your tits!' yelled Corim; what a mistake.

'What the fuck did you say about my tits!' Kate angrily stomped closer to the Turian, but I stepped in between them. 'This is fun!' yelled Han from the table. The human pushed me away and pushed Corim. 'Eat my shit, you Turian bastard!' She swung a clenched fist at him, catching him off guard and clipping his chin. In retaliation, Corim kicked Kate in the leg, crippling her for enough time for him to raise his knee and smash into the humans face. 'Whoa whoa whoa!' I yelled, grabbing Corim and separating him from the Human. 'You, leave her alone. Kate, you calm down!'

'I'm not much of a social drinker' Nyla stated, hopping off of the table and walking away. Catching a quick glimpse of the Asari leaving, I calmed Kate down the best I could and left them in the company of Han. I sauntered into the elevator and zoomed up to the second floor.

Presuming Nyla had gone to her quarters, I strolled over to her office and opened the door. Nyla must have heard me, as she turned to look at me. 'Anna. What are you doing here?'

'I'm not much of a social drinker either.'

'What about Corim and Kate?'

'I've left them with Han. Can I sit down?' I asked, pointing to the seat next to her. 'Yeah. Sure.' Nyla stood up as I sat down in the seat next to hers; she reached in the cabinets above her and pulled out a bottle of Asari liquor. She continued to pull out two glasses; 'you been drinking on the job, Nyla?' I asked cheekily.

'Of course not' she replied, sitting down beside me and handing me a wine glass. She poured me some alcohol, and then herself. 'Nyla. What do you think of Kate?'

'Hmmm. She's okay most of the time, but sometimes she is – in all honesty – an ice cold bitch.'

'Wow. Harsh words' I said, gulping down some alcohol.

'True though' replied the Asari, sipping some of her liquor. I smiled. A silence fell between us. 'I love this ship' I stated.

'Me too' Nyla responded. 'Especially this office. It does get lonely sometimes, though. You know, just me and the empty space out there.' She pointed to the window. 'Yeah. I have the same issue. My cabin is huge, but it's only me in there.' I turned and focused on Nyla. She stared at me, our eyes locked in a lovers conflict. We both stood up and put our drinks. 'Well …' began Nyla, gulping nervously, 'maybe I can make you …' All of a sudden, the Asari leaned in and kissed my lips, grinding her soft mouth against my smooth one. 'No' she exclaimed quickly, leaving our embrace, 'this can't happen. We need to focus on the Myrians.'

'But,' I began, stuttering.

'No. Let me think.' She stepped backwards; I stared back at her blankly and then left. With a mix of anger and sadness, I stomped over to the elevator and went up to my cabin. When I got there, I didn't bother undressing; I just got into bed. Nyla never interested me before, but I saw a side of her I couldn't leave alone. I'd never been more sure of anything in my life.


End file.
